By 1994, Michael had to retire from his woodworking which had taken a toll on his back - he was struggling with pain. That gave us an opportunity to move further south to Fremont which cut my commute to work in half... significant savings in time and money. The Oakland neighborhood had gradually deteriorated - beset with drugs, gunfire, and gang activity. Time to move on.

Highlights:

• Rulon continued to live with us after high school; got a job with a networking company across the bay
• On the even years we pulled together family reunions - a week camping together in the mountains. '98 was special which included Sam & Helen's families; they haven't been allowed to join us since.
• Michael worked a lot on the house (numerous problems the landlord would not address), on several VW Siroccos and occasionally the '87 Golf I drove to work
• He maintained the swimming pool in the backyard - we used it often - and nurtured plants all around it.
• Underwent two major back surgeries - late 1999 and early 2000
• Our lives changed dramatically in 2002 when I took an early retirement from HP requiring our need to find a lower cost-of-living place to live.
• Late 2002 we bought a hot tub which made a big difference for Michael's back which was giving him lots of pain in spite of the two surgeries
• Early 2003 we sought property in East Texas,
  • flew to Okalahoma to buy a diesel pickup and 5th-wheel RV,
  • drove to East Texas where we decided on a 55-acre property
  • drove to DeAnza to temporarily store the 5th-wheel,
  • drove back to Oakland to get packed up,
  • then purchased a big utility trailer which he modified with tall sides for moving lots of stuff from Fremont...
  • to the 40-foot shipping container north of Berkeley we purchased to move all our stuff across the country. Whew!
• Hyrum was engaged to Susan; they got married June 7th amid the packing about 3 weeks before the big trek to East Texas

...more info?